The World’s Oldest Computer
– an excerpt from Greek Islands

Engineers often wonder why, if those ancient Greeks were so clever, poncing about in sheets and holding
symposiums- how come they never applied all their mathematical and scientific smarts to anything practical?
The answer, of course, is that they did, and a clue at just how advanced they were was provided by the
accidental discovery, in 1900, of a Roman ship off the coast of the little island of Antikythera that went
down on the 22nd day of the ancient Greek month of Mounichon, in the first year of the 180th Olympiad (5 May,
59 bc). It was sailing from the island of Rhodes, laden with booty for Rome. Now you might ask: how is it that
anyone could even begin to know the precise date of a 2,000-year-old shipwreck? Pinpointing even the century
of finds is more often than not just an archaeological guessing game. The answer is that part of the booty
from Rhodes included the world’s first computer, and its timekeeping mechanism was stopped forever when the
ship went down.

The wreck was discovered by sponge divers, who after sheltering from a storm off Antikythera, decided to
donned their weighted belts to see if its seabed might in fact shelter a sponge or two. Instead they were
startled to see a man beckoning to them—a magnificent 4th-century bc bronze statue known as the Ephebe of
Antikythera (one of the celebrities of the National Archaeology Museum in Athens). The Greek archaeological
service was notified, and sent down a small warship to haul up the bronze and marble statues, vases, and
glass—the world’s first underwater archaeological dig. One of the items they found was a lump; as the months
passed and the sea mud dried, a wooden cabinet about a foot high was revealed. This quickly deteriorated on
contact with the air, leaving a calcified hunk of metal that broke into four bits. Archaeologists were
astonished to see that they belonged to a mechanical device inscribed with ancient Greek script.

At first dismissed as a primitive astrolabe, the Antikythera Mechanism, as it was known, soon proved to be
much more complex. In 1958, a young British historian of science, Derek de Solla Price, was allowed to examine
it and recognized it as an astronomical computer, which, by its setting, was made on the island of Rhodes in
82 bc. The days of the month and the signs of the zodiac were inscribed on bronze dials, with pointers to
indicate the phases of the moon and position of the planets at any given time, operated within by a complex
mass of clockwork: bronze cog wheels with triangular teeth, connected to a large four-spoke wheel (the most
prominent part visible) driven by a crown gear and shaft, which probably had some kind of key for winding. A
moveable slip ring allowed for Leap Year adjustments and alignments. As far as anyone can judge, it was last
set by the Roman sea captain on the day his vessel went down. He may have been bringing it to Rome on the
special order of Cicero, who knew of the ‘future-telling astronomical device’ from his school days in Rhodes.
‘It is a bit frightening to know,’ concluded Derek Price, ‘that just before the fall of their great
civilization, the Ancient Greeks had come so close to our age, not only in their thought, but also in their
scientific knowledge.’ The next similar device to be noted anywhere was in 11th-century India, by the Iranian
traveller al-Biruni.

The Poet’s Hideaway

The ancient biographer Philochorus mentions that Euripides had an estate on Salamis and wrote in a cave
facing the sea. In the 5th century bc this retreat from society was judged as rather unusual behaviour, but
Euripides was by all accounts an unusual man.

Born into the landed middle class during the great triumph over the Persians, Euripides served in the
Peloponnesian War, and lost his fortune, through expensive political posts and contributing to the war effort;
what money remained he spent on books – he was the first Greek to accumulate a private library. He was
considered the greatest poet of his age (some 18 plays have survived), yet he won only four first prizes. No
one was quite sure what to think of his work. Where Aeschylus and Sophocles maintained a level of restraint
and dignity in their characters, Euripides’ are full of passion; he broke sexual taboos, and refused to
idealize anyone. He loved women (at a time when most men wanted to lock them up at home) and made them his
special study, most famously Medea.

Idealistic, but deeply troubled by his times, Euripides wrote truths that disturbed his contemporaries’ basic
assumption about society, the state, their gods, and themselves. He loathed their wars; the rich and the great
rabble of Athenian democracy infuriated him, and he, in turn, infuriated them even while they hung on his
words. They took out their frustrations by mocking him and even beating him up, until he took refuge in the
court of Macedonia, where he died the next year, in 406 bc. Yet a century later, the playwright Philemon
wrote: ‘If I were certain that the dead had consciousness, I would hang myself to see Euripides.’

After Euripides’ death, his writer’s cave became a tourist attraction that was visited well into Roman times.
In 1994, archaeologist Yiannos Liolios, finding that the cave at Peristéria matched the ancient inscriptions,
began investigations that soon yielded artefacts going back to the Neolithic period. Ancient votive offerings
suggest that the cave was identified as the lair of Kychreus, the man-snake. Then, in 1996, Liolios proved
that it was also the retreat of the great tragedian, when he came across an archaeologist’s dream: a wine cup
with Euripides’ name on it, left behind by the poet 2,380 years ago. To find the cave, keep your eyes peeled
for an obscure signpost in Peristéria, follow the dirt road as far as you can in your car, and then continue
on foot.

Letters from Readers

Thank you for publishing such a wonderful informative guide to the Greek Islands. I have really enjoyed reading
it and I know it is more informative than any other I have.

Pam C, St. Albans

I have recently returned from a fantastic trip to the Greek Islands, I used your book as a wonderful reference
every step of the way. I have further recommended your book to other travelers. I cannot thank you enough.